Alex Russo's Day Off
by writerchic16
Summary: Jealous of her older brother’s Senior Skip day, Alex decides to ditch school with Harper, and Max ends up tagging along. Meanwhile, Justin discovers her scheme and spends his day off trying to bust them.
1. Chapter 1

**Alex Russo's Day Off**

Summary: Jealous of her older brother's Senior Skip day, Alex decides to ditch school with Harper, and Max ends up tagging along. Meanwhile, Justin discovers her scheme and spends his day off trying to bust them.

A/N: Yeah, spoofing Ferris Bueller has been done before, but believe it or not I got inspired because of a Food Network commercial for their new show "Alex's Day Off." This is for my personal amusement, though I hope you enjoy it too. Overall, I'm going to try to stick to the original events, with of course my twists and changes to allow for magic and the WOWP cast.

EDIT: Whoops, I guess I should've mentioned that this is a take on Ferris Bueller's Day Off. There will be several references to the original movie plot, including the narration technique (which will be in italics), but it will only have WOWP characters.

* * *

"Oh…" Alex moaned as she twisted and turned in bed.

No, she wasn't having that strangely recurring but pleasant dream about Shia LaBouf. Though she wouldn't mind if it woke her up the next morning.

But at that moment she was fully awake and in pain. Her body was flashing hot and cold, her palms were sweaty, and her forehead was so hot it could probably fry an egg.

"Mommy!" she whined loudly. "Daddy! I feel horrible!"

Sure enough, her mother and father rushed into her room. "Aw, Alex, honey," Theresa gushed. She was instantly at Alex's bedside, her hand on her daughter's forehead. She paused after she pulled her hand away. "Jerry, she has a fever."

However, Jerry was more skeptical. "I'm sure she does," he muttered, then wandered over to feel Alex's forehead. "Yup." He then bent down and looked her in the eye. "Alright, you little faker, what spell did you use?"

"Jerry!" Theresa chided and gently pushed him out of Alex's face. "Look at her! My poor baby, she's really sick…" She paused. "Right, Alex?"

Through a sudden hacking cough, Alex nodded.

Still, Jerry wasn't convinced. "Theresa, it's Justin's Senior Skip day. She already said how jealous she was that he didn't have to go to school. And the next day she wakes up with a fever? Too convenient in my opinion."

"D-Daddy," Alex said in a weak voice. "T-the sick spell is too hard for me, remember? I c-couldn't g-get it in class." She ended her statement with another big cough.

Her argument made Jerry hesitate. "That is true." He shared a quick glance with Theresa, then let out a deep sigh. "Fine, because it's Justin's skip day I'll let you pass. But you are _not_ leaving this house, got it?"

"Got it. Can I please have some chicken soup for breakfast? I think it would help my throat," Alex said as she rested her head back on her pillow.

Theresa chuckled. "Now we know she isn't faking. She hates chicken soup." With that, Theresa kissed Alex's forehead and stood up. "Come on, Jerry, we'll let her rest while I go call the school and make her the soup." She then glanced at her daughter. "You know, maybe I shouldn't work today…"

"No, Mommy, Dad needs help in the shop," Alex reminded her.

Though he still wasn't totally sold on her act, if it was one, Jerry nodded. "She's right, Theresa. We can take turns checking up on her."

"Okay, fine. Sweetie, you rest up. If you want I'll help you into the living room later so you can watch some TV," Theresa offered.

Alex replied with a weak nod, and turned on her side like she was going back to sleep. As her parents went into the hallway, she heard her mother whisper, "My poor sick little baby," before she closed the door.

After she watched the clock for exactly five minutes, Alex coughed while she threw her comforter off. She then grabbed her wand under the bed, pointed it at herself, and concentrated. "Sum puteus iterum."

An instant later, her fever vanished, her palms were dry, and her body was back to its normal temperature.

"_I wasn't lying to Dad…completely," _Alex narrated while she hopped out of bed and went to her closet. _"That spell _was_ too hard for me. When we learned it a month ago. But it's amazing how much it improved after I practiced it a few times. Justin's tried to get me to do that before…I think he calls it studying."_

A smug smile on her face, Alex picked out an outfit and threw it on her bed. _"As soon as I heard about Justin's Senior Skip day, I knew there was no way I was going to school while he spent the day with Juliet in Japan…"_ She trailed off. _"She's a vampire, remember? It's night in Japan while it's day here. Anyway, Dad let Justin have the family wand to cast the transportation spell. How unfair is that, when they wouldn't even let _me_ go to a party in Brooklyn? At least I wanted to stay in the country!" _

Alex shook her head in disgust at the thought. _"They said he was allowed to go because he was more responsible. Well, for once, I'm going to prove them right and show just how irresponsible I am. Of course, they won't find out, but I'll know."_

"_You know, Ferris Bueller, my idol growing up, had the right idea. He didn't have magic, but he managed to do whatever he wanted. He was pretty impressive."_

Her wand pointed at herself again, Alex chanted, "Edgebono Utoosis."

She was enveloped in magic light, and suddenly her clone was standing next to her. Alex grinned. Perfect.

"_But I can be pretty impressive too."_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Her double safely tucked into her bed at home, Alex materialized out of a pay phone in front of the school that had been left hanging off the hook. It had been broken for a while, the phone swinging from its base for days, fortunately for her.

"_Yeah, I'm here, even when I'm trying to ditch it pulls me back in,"_ Alex narrated. _"But I can't go out and have fun without my best friend. Yeah, Harper probably won't be happy about it, but she needs to loosen up. Senior Skip day only comes once a year, after all."_

Alex entered the building to find that she'd arrived right before homeroom, despite the time she spent convincing her parents she was sick. _Ironic that I'm at school on time for once on the day I'm going to skip_, Alex thought. This worked out in her favor, as she could grab Harper on her way to homeroom at the end of the entrance hallway on the locker side.

A quick glance at the school clock showed that homeroom was starting in less than two minutes. Either Harper was running late, or she was in class already.

Fortunately for her, it was the former. Harper rushed around the corner into the main hallway, her books close to her chest, panic on her face. Alex could tell that Harper was petrified that for the first time in her life she would get detention for being late.

"Harper!" Alex called and rushed to block Harper's path from the door.

Anxious, Harper glanced at the door but paused to talk to Alex. "Look, Alex, I'll talk to you later. I'm going to be late!"

"Ditch school with me!" Alex said.

"Are you mad, woman? I'm not like you," Harper retorted. "I _care_ about my school record. I'll get caught!"

Alex shook her head. "No, you won't. Here." She checked to make sure the hallway was clear, as everyone had rushed to class, and pulled out her wand with its tip in the air. "So Harper's day will be pleasant, all her teachers will mark her present."

A spark of magic flew from the tip of her wand and faded in to the air.

"What did you do?" Harper demanded, still nervous about missing class.

"It was one of the first spells I ever taught myself," Alex said with a grin. Of course, Justin caught on and told her dad, who told Justin to put a lock on the spell so that she couldn't use it on herself Fortunately, the lock didn't include other people. "It's called the Overlook Spell, meaning that all your teachers will _overlook_ it when you're not in class and mark you as present on the attendance sheet. If the mark's there, so are you. Now let's go, we've only got about six hours to shop."

"Wait! We can't just leave!" Harper objected when she found herself being pulled towards the front door.

Frustrated, Alex groaned. "Why _not_?"

"Because…because…" Harper then looked down at her books. "Because I need to go put my books back in my locker! You can't expect me to walk around with these all day!"

"Oh, fine. You're not changing my mind though. Harper, if anyone needs a vacation day, it's you," Alex insisted as they turned the corner and approached Harper's locker.

Her face pale, Harper's hands were shaking as she did her combination and put her books back. She winced when the bell rang, which meant even if she did get out of this, she would be late. "A-Alex, what if someone recognizes us?"

"Who?" Alex replied. "And even if there _was_ someone to recognize us, we're in Manhattan, which has like, a million people in it! What are the chances that someone we know will run into us and rat us out?"

Finally, Harper slammed her locker closed. "Alright, but this is a really bad idea…"

"Harper, just calm down and have fun!" Alex pleaded. "I've got it all under control."

Harper didn't look any more reassured.

They were about to head for the door when someone called, "Wait up!"

"_Max_? Why aren't you in class?" Harper exclaimed when Max ran up to them. She then glared at Alex. "See! You're a bad influence!"

Max ignored her and held up his camera. Movie making had become his passion since his first internet videos. "Please let me come with you! I cast the Overlook Spell and it worked perfectly!"

"No way! I didn't go through all this trouble just to have my little brother tag along," Alex argued, her arms crossed. This was _not_ how her day was supposed to go.

Smug, Max crossed his arms as well, the small camera strapped to his hand. "Let me put it this way. Either you let me come, or I tell Mom and Dad."

"I cast the Edgebono Utoosis spell. My body double can speak and everything. They'll never believe you," Alex challenged. She'd even cast a heat spell on her double's forehead so that it would stay at 101.0 degrees the whole day. There was the chance that the temperature might go too high or too low, but the spell was basic, and chances were her parents would become too busy with the shop to check on her as much as they said they were.

Max held up his camera. "They'll believe it when I show them the tape of you convincing Harper to skip. And I cast a spell on it so that you can't destroy it."

"_Oh_, I _have_ been a bad influence on you," Alex muttered, but it was more of a compliment than when Harper said it. "Fine. But you're going shopping with us."

Much to her surprise, Max seemed happy with that. "Sweet!" He held up his camera as if to film the girls. "I can do a documentary about girls in their natural habitat!"

"What_ever_, but if you better not go anywhere near the dressing rooms," Alex threatened.

"Oh, I know," Max assured her. "Mom warned me about that when we were in the department store last week."

"Good, 'cause I like being the only kid in this family with a criminal record," Alex remarked. While Harper glanced backwards nervously one last time, the trio left the school building.

* * *

Back at school, Mr. Larritate was substitute teaching for a first period history class. Much to his delight, the class was learning about the wild west of the nineteenth century. That in mind, he hadn't been too upset when the history teacher called in sick. "Finkle?" he called, in the middle of taking the attendance.

No one was paying attention to him. He expected as much. With a sigh, he marked a check next to Finkle's name, since he presumed the excellent student was somewhere in the chaos, and moved on.

He managed to get through the rest of the names with a student actually replying to his or her name every so often, but paid extra attention when he got to one name in particular.

"Russo?"

Instead of moving on, he scanned the crowd, then called again, "Russo? Russo?"

"Has anyone seen Alex Russo?" Mr. Larritate almost yelled to be heard above the noise.

One of the girls he saw Alex talk to on occasion was nice enough to answer. "She's out sick today, Mr. Larritate."

"Oh, really," Mr. Larritate remarked. He didn't believe it for a second. If he knew Ms. Russo, she'd purposely spread the rumor that she wasn't feeling well to cover her bases.

Yes, that Alex Russo was one conniving coyote.

On a hunch, he peeked into the hallway to see if Alex was at her locker. He was actually a little surprised to see she wasn't there. He shrugged and went back to the class, but then paused. "Okay, buckaroos, everyone open your textbooks to chapter five and start reading. I'll be back soon," he instructed.

As expected, they ignored him and kept talking.

"At least _pretend_ to listen until I've left the corral," Mr. Larritate muttered under his breath. Substitute teachers got no respect.

He went into his office, looked up Alex's file and her parents' work number. That didn't take long, since Alex's file was usually a subject of interest.

"Hello, this is Mr. Larritate from Tribeca Prep, calling about Alex Russo," Mr. Larritate recited. He'd made this call so many times, he wouldn't be surprised if whichever parent picked up recognized his voice.

"Mr. Larritate?" Mrs. Russo replied. "Oh yes, I'm sorry, I meant to call Alex in sick today, but we got busy with the morning rush at our sub shop and I forgot."

That made Mr. Larritate raise an eyebrow. Alex Russo was actually home sick. This was new. "Are you sure?" he couldn't help but ask.

Much to his relief, Mrs. Russo didn't take offense and chucked. "Yes, I'm sure. I understand that Alex has a poor attendance record, but I know for a fact that she is upstairs with a 101.0 fever."

"Alright then. Sorry to bother you, I hope she feels better soon," Mr. Larritate apologized, then hung up the phone.

Oh well, he did his cowboy duty and checked on the herd. If Mrs. Russo said Alex was sick at home, he had to accept that.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I'm officially hooked on this story, lol. That's partly because Alex, Harper and Max are exploring Manhattan, and I live in New York City. I'm having a lot of fun using all of my favorite places. Grand Central Station is definitely one of them.

Also, sorry the chapters have been a little short so far. They'll probably be a page or two longer once I really get beyond the story's beginning

Thanks for the reviews!

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"I really like the purple top, but I want to get a scarf to go with it," Alex rambled as they walked around midtown Manhattan. They had already spent an hour and a half shopping, but she and Harper only had a few bags between them. Max hadn't bought anything but had brought his backpack with him because he forgot to leave it in his locker at school. Most of their time was spent window shopping, or making fun of tourists, since they only had so much allowance. "I'm thinking black. And a few silver earrings! Oh, but then I would have to get make up, and I'm due for a new pair of boots. Let's stop at that huge Manhattan & Co. next!"

Even though Harper could marathon shop with Alex any time, she seemed a little worn down as they stopped at a corner to wait for the light to change. Harper put down her own couple of bags and shook her hands. "I like your outfit idea, Alex, but we've been walking around for an hour, and I never ate breakfast this morning."

"Yeah, Alex, I'm starving! And I'm sick of shopping!" Max whined, his camera still attached to his hand but down at his side. "No documentary is worth this!"

About to argue, Alex hesitated when she heard her stomach growl. Maybe it wouldn't be such a waste of time if they got a quick breakfast. "Fine. Where do you want to go? I don't see a food cart anywhere."

"Oh, there's Grand Central Station!" Harper exclaimed and pointed to the low yet massive building at the end of the block.

Max raised an eyebrow. "I don't think we need to take a subway or a train to find food There's probably a McRonald's around the corner."

"No! We can eat in Grand Central! There's a food court on the lower level," Harper explained. The light changed, so they picked up their bags and crossed.

"Well, it's right there," Alex remarked. She'd never eaten in the huge train station either, but she was so hungry she didn't care. "We might as well check it out."

It didn't take long for them to walk the rest of the way. They ended up at the main entrance, which lead to the top of a large two-sided stair case that overlooked the train station's huge center. A circular information booth with an ornate clock marked the center, and an identical staircase was opposite them. On either side of the staircase were marble archways, marked entrance labels to the subways in gold letters. Entrances to train tracks lined the sides. However, the most noticeable feature was the blue ceiling, covered in intricate gold designs.

"Wow," Alex breathed. She, Harper and Max stepped up to the railing, bags in the floor next to them, to enjoy the view. "I've been here a few times, I guess it's just been a while. You forget how cool this place is."

"I've got to get a shot of this!" Max exclaimed, then picked up his camera and began to film the scenery. "This would be awesome for transition shots!"

"It's amazing. So many people, and every single one of them has to be somewhere," Alex mused, mesmerized by the dozens of bustling people running and bumping into each other on their way to a track or the various exits.

Harper nodded. "I used to come here with my parents on the weekends sometimes, when I was really little. Sometimes when they would take me to see a matinee…" She paused when Alex wrinkled her forehead at the unfamiliar word. "…_afternoon_ showing, we would have lunch downstairs." And then she paused, wistful. "A-and then, when my dad and my mom started fighting, sometimes he'd take me here for breakfast when…when he needed to get out of the house."

Neither Alex nor Max, who had lowered his camera in surprise, knew what to say. Finally Alex cleared her throat. "I-I'm sorry, Harper. We can go somewhere else…"

"No," Harper assured her, a small smile on her face. "I like those memories. It's fine."

They spent some more time looking at the concourse, and Alex walked along the railing as she narrated, "_I always knew Harper didn't have the best home life. For the most part I come off as uncaring and self-centered, but she's my best friend. When she slept over my house, we would lie awake at night, and she would tell me what was going on at home. It was rough on her, because more often than not, her parents took their anger out by being extra strict with her._

"_That's another reason I wanted her to come with me today, other than the main reason of her being my best friend. She's living with my family now. She doesn't get that I mess up so much, she can afford to slack off a little. I've found that you can have a lot of fun if you just stop worrying. I hope Harper at least learns that."_

Alex sighed. "Hey guy, let's go get some breakfast, I'm starving." She picked up her bags, and the trio headed down the stairs to the dining concourse.

* * *

Minutes later, they were eating breakfast on a bench that faced another long wall lined with train track entrances. They'd stopped in the bathroom, where Alex shrunk her and Harper's bags so they could carry everything they bought in their purses.

Harper went straight for, according to her, the "outrageous" orange-cranberry muffins sold at a kiosk in the middle of the rectangular food court. Never up for healthy food, Alex and Max opted for the bagel stand along one of the walls.

"So," Alex said around a mouthful of everything bagel. "After this, we should head back to Manhattan & Co, and I think there's a Forever 22 store around here somewhere…"

"Alex, no more shopping, I've had enough!" Max groaned.

Irritated, Alex glared at him. "Tough! You're the one who wanted to come with us."

"Come on, Alex," Harper argued. "We did shop a lot. I have some money left, but I don't want to blow it all when we might need it for today."

"Even when we're spending the day doing whatever we want, you worry," Alex said with a sad shake of her head. "Have you learned anything living with me?"

Harper scoffed. "Yeah. Don't try to cast a spell when you're distracted by the TV."

"Nice," Max laughed, and he and Harper high-fived.

The incident where she was half-watching television while doing her wizard homework was fresh in her mind, and she'd rather it not be a topic of discussion. "Hey, I'm in charge here, so number one, my best friend and my little brother aren't allowed to gang up on me. Number two, we're going shopping."

"_Alex_," Harper said, as both she and Max gave her pleading faces.

Alex sighed. "_Fine_. I guess now would be when I'm supposed to ask what you two want to do."

"Let's see a Met game!" Max exclaimed. "We can get tickets from a scalper."

"That's ridiculous. I'm not paying for baseball tickets. We'd use magic to get in," Alex retorted. Even without the ticket price, she hated the idea of spending so much time of her precious vacation day watching sports. "Besides, games are like three hours…or longer. You and Dad hog the TV all night long during baseball season."

As she popped another piece of muffin in her mouth, Harper reminded them, "Besides, isn't Shea Stadium in Queens?"

"It's Citi Field now," Max muttered, and Alex remembered that neither her dad nor Max were happy about changing the classic name. "And yeah. That's bunk." Then he became excited again as he thought of another option. "Oh! Can we at least go to a Yankee game? It's not my first choice, but it's something."

"Yankee Stadium's in the Bronx," Alex and Harper replied in unison.

They were silent for the next minute or so while they tried to think of something to do, a surprisingly hard task even though they were the busiest city in the country, "We could go to a museum! I always liked the Museum of Natural History."

"No. We're out of school. The last thing I want to do is _learn_," Alex retorted.

Harper tilted her head in thought. "We could go to an art museum. You might like the MOMA. They have a student discount…but that's uptown. We should really cover Times Square first and go there if we can't think of anything later."

"I have an idea," Max suddenly exclaimed. "But you guys might not like it."

Hesitant, Alex traded glances with Harper, then shrugged. They couldn't think of anything, so they might as well hear him out. "Okay Max, what's your idea?"

* * *

A/N: Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I decided that Harper is living with the Russos at this point. For those wondering when that happens, it was announced in the sneak peek clips that aired during commercials in the movie premiere weekend.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Alex was having serious regrets about letting Max pick their next activity.

"Why didn't someone _remind_ me why I never listen to Max?" she whined.

"Oh, Alex," Harper replied. "Where's your inner child?"

Irritated, Alex raised an eyebrow. "I hated this at carnivals. I used to steal other kids' cotton candy instead."

"Right, I forgot you used to do that. Well, this'll be over soon, so just sit back and enjoy the ride," Harper insisted.

Her arms crossed in indignation, Alex leaned back on her bench and narrated, _"Enjoy the ride, she says. How am I supposed to do that when _the ride_ is the huge Ferris wheel at the even huger Toys 'R' Us?"_

At the moment, she, Harper, and Max – who was hanging out the side recording with his video camera – were in the Scooby-Doo themed car at the top of the Ferris wheel. When Max had first suggested it, so he could practice shooting at different angles with his camera, Alex thought he meant that _he_ just wanted to go.

And he did. But then Harper got all excited and tried to convince her to get on. Of course Max joined in to see his sister humiliated.

So that's how she ended up in a "Mystery Machine" car, under a plastic Scooby-Doo. Harper and Max sat across from her under a plastic Shaggy.

Thankfully everyone she knew was in school.

She could only imagine what would've happened if this was after school and a student they knew walked in. That person would take a picture with his or her cell phone, send it to all friends listed on the phone's contact list. Before long there would be a mass of Tribeca Prep students laughing and pointing at tough and cool Alex Russo, riding the Ferris wheel at Toys "R" Us.

_Everyone's in school…_she thought in between deep breaths. _Everyone's in school…no one's going to see me like this…_

"Oh, man!" Max exclaimed and whirled his camera around. "That's an _awesome_ shot of the giant T-Rex! This place is great!"

Harper also leaned out, but to point to the Barbie house in the distance "Look! It's the big Barbie house! Let's go there after this…"

"The only way you're going to see that doll house is if you leave me at the front door," Alex snapped. No _way_ was she spending any more time than this in a toy store.

Annoyed, Harper argued, "Hey, you're the one who dragged me out of school this morning. I should be able to do something too."

Alex glared at her. "_Dragged_? You could've said no! Excuse me for wanting you to have fun for once in your life!"

When Harper's eyes welled with tears, Alex realized she'd gone too far. "I'm sorry, Harper. I didn't mean…"

"Don't let her get to you, Harper," Max, who had put his camera down for the moment to the conversation, remarked. He smirked at his sister. "Alex is just embarrassed."

"Am not!" Alex automatically retorted. Then it hit her just how immature and defensive she sounded when Harper and Max traded knowing smirks. "I-I mean," she covered. "I _am not_ embarrassed. Let people see me, I don't care. I'm the girl who showed the whole school my diary, remember?"

Harper shook her head. "No, I get it. When you showed people your diary, it was really a part of you, so you didn't lie about it. But you don't want someone to see you and think you like riding on the Toys 'R' Us Ferris wheel, when you don't. I get it."

That was actually _exactly_ it. Inside, Alex had to admire Harper's insight. But she wasn't about to let them get away with accusing her of caring about what other people think _at all_. Really, she hated that she had that fear of embarrassment again when she shouldn't. Who cared what someone else thought, even if it was wrong? "I _am not_ embarrassed," Alex insisted, more to convince herself.

"Please. You're humiliated every time Mom says 'hi' to a boy you like," Max teased. He was thoroughly enjoying how uncomfortable his sister was. "You get embarrassed just like everyone else."

"I do not!" Alex exclaimed. "I'll prove it to you! We'll go around on this thing again, and then Harper, you and I are going to the Barbie house."

But Harper wasn't as thrilled as Alex thought she would be. Instead, she was leaning over her side and looking down at the store entrance, right next to the ride. "Uh, guys, speaking of your mom…"

"_Mom_?"

Alex and Max had exclaimed in unison, both dashing over to Harper's side to look down. And there was Theresa Russo, who had just walked in, and was heading over to ask an employee a question.

In panic, the three squatted down on the floor of the cart. Thankfully it had just passed the bottom and was moving back to the top again. But they only had this last time before they had to get off the ride.

Stunned, Max whispered "What's _Mom_ doing here?"

"I have no idea," Alex replied. Of course, her mother chose that day to randomly go to Toys "R" Us. It was like she _knew_.

"Wait, I remember!" Harper exclaimed. "Don't you remember the other day, Alex? Your mom told you that she was coming here to get a birthday present for your little cousin. We're going to the party this weekend."

Alex shrugged. "What can I say? Dad's right, it does go in one ear and out the other."

* * *

Meanwhile, in a Tokyo restaurant, Justin was just finishing up dinner with Juliet. As a vampire, she didn't become hungry for food or absorb its nutrients. However, she could still vaguely taste it, so she agreed to dinner before they went sightseeing.

Justin sighed. He'd been starving for…well, this would be breakfast if not for the time change…but he felt bad making Juliet sit through a meal if she wasn't enjoying it. "I'm almost done," he assured her.

"I already told you, _don't worry about it_," Juliet assured him. She'd managed to eat about half of her extremely rare steak. "When you've been a vampire for a while, you start to get your taste for human food back. And this steak was _really_ bloody," she added with a sigh of contentment.

His anxiety gone, Justin laughed. "See, that's what I love about you, Juliet. You're so different from other girls I dated. You _love_ gory movies, don't squirm when I get a paper cut, even if I do, and you can help me study for my history test because, chances are, you were there!"

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Juliet said, then leaned across the table and kissed him. "It's so great having a boyfriend who loves that I'm a vampire. I can't tell you how many have tried to put a stake through my heart once they found out. You just buy me steak."

Justin laughed again, but became distracted when his remark made him remember something _very_ important. "Uh oh," he whispered.

"What? You just realized how much this meal is going to cost?" Juliet teased.

"No," Justin said with a shake of his head. How could he forget what he did? And he was supposed to be an A student. "I just remembered, I left my European history book in my locker. And _we're supposed to have the next chapter outlined by Monday!_ I need that book! He's going to take points off my average if I don't have it!"

When he started to become short of breath, Juliet got up and went to his side. "Justin, honey, it's okay. You're a wizard, remember? Can't you just make the book magically come to you?"

"No…I mean, I could, but transporting objects just to outside the building is really hard," Justin explained. He was still panicking inside, but having Juliet next to him was calming him down.

Her hand on his shoulder, Juliet tried to think of a solution. "Well, let's just enjoy the day, then we can go back to school tonight and you can use your powers to get in and grab the book."

"Can't. They just put security cameras in. I can block them out, but what if I miss one and it catches me?" Justin explained, a frown on his face. This was looking hopeless.

Though she didn't look happy about the idea, Juliet suggested, "Then let's go back to your school and get it. It'll take five minutes with your family wand, and you'll be able to enjoy the day much better."

Honestly, that was what he wanted to do in the first place, but didn't want to take the risk of upsetting her by asking. Really, he'd be interrupting their date to get a book from school. How lame was that? "Thank you, so much, for understanding," he replied and gave her a grateful kiss. "Come on."

"Uh, Justin?" Juliet said. "Maybe I better stay here, and finish my food or something. Your school has a lot of windows, and the sun is shining over there."

Though he felt stupid for not remembering, Justin weakly explained, "Of course, uh, I was just worried about leaving you alone in a foreign country. Something might, uh, happen to you."

"Justin, I'm a vampire," Juliet reminded him. "Nothing _can_ happen to me."

"Right. I'm so sorry about this, I promise I'll be back as soon as I can," Justin assured her. He gave her a good-bye kiss, then – with the family wand in his pocket – he ran to the restroom.

Minutes later, after he appeared in the alleyway of a building near the school, he was running down the hallway to his locker. Everyone was in second period, so he wouldn't have to worry about teachers asking him why he was in school. Though he supposed it wouldn't matter if they did, since there was no rule that forbade seniors from attending on skip day…he just didn't want to leave his girlfriend waiting too long.

"Justin?"

As if on cue, Mr. Larritate turned the corner and spotted him as he opened his locker. "Hi, Mr. Larritate."

"Justin, you're a senior, aren't you?" Mr. Larritate asked. "What are you doing here?"

Sheepish, Justin held up his advanced placement European history book. "I left my book in my locker and needed to get it "

"Ah, yes, Mr. Elliot and those chapter outlines can be a real cattle drive," Mr. Larritate sympathized with a frown.

_I'm going to guess that means they're a challenge,_ Justin thought. Every student complained about having to interpret Mr. Larritate's cowboy lingo. "Yeah. So, I just stopped in."

"Don't worry, I won't keep you. I'm sure you've got your own rodeo to get back to," Mr. Larritate assured him as he began to walk away, then stopped. "Oh, and tell your sister to get well soon."

"Why?" Justin asked.

Mr. Larritate wrinkled his brow. "Well, maybe you're spending the day out and haven't talked with your parents, but I talked to your mother this morning, apparently Ms. Russo is sick with a 101-degree fever."

"Oh. Well, I'll be sure to tell her," Justin replied, and wave good buy while Mr. Larritate continued down the hallway.

Alone, Justin muttered to himself, "Alright Alex, what spell did you use now?"

Then he slammed his locker shut. Hopefully, Juliet would forgive him if he took a little time out of their day to bust his sister.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

After he left school, Justin had transported himself back to the loft. He'd then used the wand to call Juliet's cell phone, much like how his Uncle Kelbo used his, and told her what's going on. She'd called him back when she was alone in the bathroom, both to assure him he wouldn't expose magic, and that the windows in the Russo loft were closed to block out the sun.

Finally, he was able to use the wand to transport her there as well. He loved the complete power this wand gave him. It gave him a taste of what life would be like when he won the wizard competition.

"Thank you so much for understanding," Justin said when Juliet appeared, then gave her a quick kiss. "I just want to make sure my sister is really sick. She might be able to fool my parents, but I'll find out. I need to know that she's sick in bed and not running around the city when no one knows where she is."

A proud smile on her face, Juliet kissed him again. "You're so sweet for worrying about your sister. But you want to get her in trouble too, don't you? Maybe a little?"

She knew him so well. "That thought _may_ have crossed my mind," he admitted.

They ran up the loft stairs and paused at his sister's room. "Alex! Are you actually in there?" he demanded loudly.

"Justin, have a little sympathy! What if she is sick?" Juliet asked.

"Not Alex," Justin assured her. "Alex _hates_ being stuck in bed all day – she gets bored easily and she hates it when Mom tries to take care of her. Usually if she _is_ sick, she tries to hide it so she can go to school, where she'll ditch classes to hang out with her friends."

Juliet shook her head. "Instead of most kids who fake sick to get out of school. Your sister is weird."

"Weird, or an evil mastermind. It's a fine line," Justin agreed. He'd noticed that Alex still hadn't answered, so he banged on the door. "Alex!" He then paused. "Why am I bothering when she's probably not even in there?"

The door was open, so he and Juliet went into the room without waiting for an invitation. He stopped, surprised to see Alex lying awake in bed.

"Hi," she greeted, in a generally un-Alex friendly manner as she sat up in bed.

His suspicion grew as Justin inched closer, Juliet at his side. "Hey…Alex…stopped home for a while 'cause I heard you were sick."

"Yes, I'm sick," Alex replied. "I have a 101.0 fever."

Justin raised an eyebrow. There was something not right about her. On a hunch, he felt her forehead. "Well, it's hot," he relented. "But…it feels warmer than a regular fever. Hey, you mind if I take your temperature again?"

"Sure," Alex agreed and stuck the thermometer in her mouth.

While she waited for the thermometer to beep, Justin pulled Juliet aside. "Okay, Alex is never that agreeable. Even when she's sick. In fact, she's _more crabby_ when she's sick."

"Maybe the fever's affecting her differently this time," Juliet suggested.

"I have an idea," he said. While going through Alex's previous schemes to see what she might've used, he recalled one time when she used the Edgebono Utoosis spell to ditch the magic lesson for a sale. She got better at it, enough to send her father's clone on a date with their mother, she only got away with it because the two went dancing and didn't talk much. "I think she used a duplication spell, and that's her double," Justin explained to Juliet. "I'm going to test it out. She got up to where her clones have basic movement and speech, but she hasn't been able to add memory."

Her hand on her hip, Juliet argued, "She has a fever, Justin. Her memory probably wouldn't be in the best shape anyway. You're just going to have to accept that _that_ is your sister and she's sick. Let's go back to our date, please?"

"In a minute," Justin said. He hated to do this to Juliet, but he _needed_ to know what Alex was up to, and he couldn't ignore it. She couldn't get away with doing whatever she pleased _again_. It just wasn't fair.

"Justin!" Alex called, her finished thermometer in her hand. "It's done!"

He grabbed the thermometer and glanced at the reading. "Oh, wow, Alex," he said, his tone coated in sarcasm. "110-degrees," he continued with a knowing glance at Juliet, who finally seemed to realize that something was going on. "I guess I better go get Mom and Dad so we can take you to the hospital."

"Okay. But I am cold now," Alex replied. The fact that she'd so readily agreed, and didn't try to hide the temperature from him, already had him convinced, but he decided to play along.

They took her temperature again, and this time it read 65.5-degrees. "That is quite a difference in about two minutes."

"Alex" was shivering, and so pulled up the comforter. "I'm so mad at Alex for casting this heat spell on me. She said it wouldn't go above 101.0 degrees."

"And there we go," Justin remarked, triumphant. He hadn't even needed to test her memory – the resentful clone had confessed. _Alex in any form can't take discomfort_, he thought with a smirk.

Juliet sighed. "Okay, you win, you busted her. Let's go tell your parents so they can deal with it."

"What's with you?" he asked. He knew she wasn't happy about the disruption of their date, but she seemed a little annoyed.

Ashamed, Juliet put an arm around his shoulders. "I'm sorry. I know you don't want your sister to get away with it, and she shouldn't. I guess I just don't like this side of you – you know, the overly suspicious side who can't believe that there's a chance his little sister could be sick."

"Oh," Justin replied. It made sense, as Juliet didn't know Alex like he did, and didn't often see how mistrustful he was of her. "Sorry, but it's how you have to be with her. She's always getting in trouble. I suspect that she _likes_ getting in trouble."

With a nod of agreement, Juliet replied, "Okay then. I guess I'm with you in your mission to bring Alex to justice."

_She shouldn't have said that,_ Justin thought, because he was getting an idea. While Clone Alex lied back down in bed, he pulled Juliet to the corner of the room. He wasn't sure if Alex would be calling her room phone to check on her double, but he didn't want to take the chance. "I hope you mean that, because I want to look for her myself. If I tell Mom and Dad, sure, she'll be in _huge_ trouble…when she gets home, after she'll have gotten away with having fun the whole day."

"Won't it ruin Alex's day anyway knowing she's going to be punished when she gets home?" Juliet asked.

"Oh, my poor, naïve Juliet. Alex doesn't have feelings like guilt, or a conscience," Justin answered, only half-joking. "And if she gets caught being somewhere she's not supposed to, she doesn't care, she stays until the party's over. It's the idea that she's grounded anyway, so she might as well have fun while she can."

Confused, Juliet asked, "So you're not going to tell your parents?"

"Don't worry, I will. Once I have Alex in custody," Justin answered, excited just at the thought. He had this mental image of finding Alex, wherever she was, and dragging her home to their shocked parents. It was a wonderful image.

Juliet sighed. "Call me your enabler, but go ahead."

"Are you sure you're not mad? This does mean we won't get to spend the day together," he reminded her. And he really was upset about that. He was sure Alex would be delighted to know she was ruining his day without even trying.

"Well…" Juliet replied, hesitant. "Not necessarily."

*************

"Sun Shield Sunscreen SPF…_one thousand_?" Justin exclaimed.

The bottle of vampire sun protection lotion was twice as big as the average shampoo bottle. Luckily, Juliet's parents were out when they transported in to her apartment under the Late Nite Bite, and much to his amazement, she'd pulled out the bottle with ease and plunked it on a table in front of him.

"Yup," Juliet answered. "The only way vampires can go out in the sun. Of course, I have a soul, so the sun's effects aren't as immediate as with regular vampires. But with this, I should be able to spend the day out looking for Alex with you. The thing is, it's _really_ expensive, even for vampires, so I can only use it once in a while."

This made Justin curious. He'd never heard of this when they studied vampires in class. "Wow! I didn't read about this. Is it new?"

"A little, it's only been around in the last decade. This one is the latest development," Juliet explained. "It turns purple before it disappears so you can tell if you missed a spot. As you can guess, missing a spot would be _very_ bad. Vampires are still advised to wear clothes that cover just in case."

"Oh cool. Mortal sunscreen does the color change thing too, you know. It's not really new," Justin said.

Juliet nodded. "Yeah, vampire researches stole the technique from mortals since it already existed. They probably would've come up with it themselves though. Vampire scientists are really smart." She picked up the bottle and headed towards a private room. "I'm going to go put this on and change my outfit. Be back soon!"

Alone, Justin sat in a chair and shook his head. Juliet just went to put on globs of sunscreen so she could spend the day with him when he had ruined all of their plans for a day…uh, night…of sightseeing in Japan.

"I have the best girlfriend," he said to himself.

* * *

"We need more time!" Alex panicked. The Ferris wheel was getting close to the bottom again, and she, Harper, and Max would have to get out…right in front of their mother.

Panicked, Harper said, "What are we going to do? The Ferris wheel isn't going to stop…" She then paused in realization, and she traded knowing glances with Alex.

"You're a genius, Harper!" Alex exclaimed, then quickly thought of a spell. "So we can figure out what to do, this Ferris wheel will not move."

The Ferris wheel automatically stopped, with their Scooby Doo car halfway down the return trip. None of the passengers seemed to mind though, as the Ferris wheel often stopped during the ride to let people enjoy the view at the top.

Max nodded in understanding. "_Oh_, I get it. We wait here until Mom goes into the store."

"Maybe not," Harper replied. She'd peeked over the side of the cart, as they were still crouched down. "Your mom is having a seriously long conversation with the employee. I think she's asking for suggestions about what to get your cousin."

"In that case, it could be a while," Alex remarked. Her mother had an annoying habit of having long conversations with strangers, like when she vents her problems out on the sub shop customers.

"Wait, Alex," Harper said. "Why can't you just transport us out of here? You were able to get to Paris pretty easily."

Alex shook her head. "To where though? If I pop us out of the store onto the sidewalk outside, someone will see us. Transportation with a training wand is really hard unless you have an _exact_ location or person in mind. That's why Justin needed the family wand to go to Japan."

Impatient, Max said, "Well, we have to do something. I'll get bored. There's only so many angles you can shoot from sitting on the floor."

"But if I start the Ferris wheel, Mom will see us…" Alex argued, then her eyes widened in realization. "Unless she _can't_ see us."

Harper knew that gleam in Alex's eye, and it was making her nervous. "_Alex_, what are you going to do?"

"Getting off this Ferris wheel is impossible, so make Harper, Max and I invisible," Alex chanted. Mentally, she expanded the spell to include their bags and Max's camera.

The magic took effect, and she, Harper and Max became invisible. If anyone looked in the car, it would appear to be empty.

"Your mother warned me about this," Harper's disembodied voice remarked. "Now I'm going to have to alter all my clothes."

Alex ignored Harper's comment and focused on getting out of there undetected. "Alright, I'm going to start the Ferris wheel again. The employee will open it for the next group of people to get on. That's when we make a run for it. Got it?"

"Got it," Harper and Max replied in unison.

A little uncomfortable casting the spell when she couldn't see her wand, Alex tried to get over it and chanted, "We figured out what to do, so now this ride can continue."

The Ferris wheel began to move again, and they soon reached the bottom. An employee opened the car, and the trio ran out. Fortunately, it was loud in the store so they didn't have to worry about being quiet.

However, before they reached the door, a customer bumped into Max, who then fell into Alex, who shouted, "Max! Watch it!" without thinking.

They held their breaths when Theresa whirled around at the sound of her daughter's voice. She scanned the crowd, but since she was unable to see anyone, she shrugged and went back to talking with the employee.

After they made it to the sidewalk outside, they ran into the bathroom of a store next to Toys "R" Us, where Alex could safely turn them visible again. Fortunately they were able to make it out onto the sidewalk again without anyone noticing that Max had come out of the women's bathroom.

"We did it!" Alex exclaimed. The three shared high fives as they started walking in the opposite direction of the toy store.

"That was scary!' Harper said. "I think my heart stopped when your mom turned around. I thought we were busted!"

As he checked to make sure his camera was okay after the invisibility spell, Max asked, "So where are we going next?"

"Well, I say we go back to shopping," Alex suggested. At Max's disappointed look, she added, "Hey! We just rode the Ferris wheel for you. Be happy!" She glanced at Harper and fully expected her best friend's support.

But Harper wasn't ready for more shopping yet either. "Wait a minute, Alex. We haven't gotten to do something I want to do yet. We never did get to go to the doll house."

"How is shopping not something you want to do? You love shopping!" Alex argued.

Harper shrugged. "We shop all the time. I want to do something special."

"Okay, fine," Alex relented. She was beginning to think she would be enjoying her day much more if she hadn't bothered to stop by school that morning.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Sorry about the delay, everyone! School has been driving me completely crazy.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

This was actually kind of nice. If there was one pure, enjoyable way to pass time, it was lying in the grass, looking up at the clouds, and doing absolutely nothing productive.

At first, Alex had strongly objected when Harper wanted to go to Central Park to collect leaves and other nature elements for a spring-themed dress she wanted to make. Alex insisted that she would be bored stiff walking around a park for any amount of time, as there would surely be nothing for her to do.

As it turned out, once Alex gave in, she realized how relaxing it all was. Granted, she wasn't lying on the grass _directly_, as she'd stubbornly conjured up a standard blanket for her to sit on so her outfit wouldn't get dirty. The blanket the spell had produced was of the average picnic variety, and not quite Alex's taste, but she soon forgot about it as she became consumed with cloud-watching. Not only did she love that she wasn't doing anything when she was supposed to be in school, but she couldn't help but appreciate the odd view.

It was amazing, really, maybe even more so than the overwhelming details of Grand Central Station. At eye-level, she was surrounded by trees, large fields and clean pathways on which horse-drawn carriages traveled. But then if she looked up, she remembered that the park was surrounded by skyscrapers. It was like a small nature-filled island in an urban sea.

Alex made a mental note that, as a native New Yorker, she should take advantage of her surroundings once in a while instead of spending all of her free time shopping in her neighborhood's clothing stores.

Her back beginning to feel the hard ground, she sat up and looked around...only to find that she didn't see Harper. "Hey, Max?" she called.

His video camera recording a squirrel that had snagged someone's potato chip, he called back, his tone annoyed, "Can it wait until this squirrel finishes eating this potato chip? It's the cutest thing ever and it's so going to be my next Youtube video!"

"A squirrel. Eating a potato chip," Alex replied in disbelief. "Who in their right mind would spend free time watching that?"

"Alex, Alex, Alex," Max said with a belittling shake of his head. The squirrel was done with the chip and had scurried away, so he turned the camera off and walked back over to her. "If I've learned one thing about internet videos, it's this. If it's cute, they will watch."

Still skeptical, Alex retorted, "They, who?"

"Girls at my school, who give me their phone numbers 'cause they like my videos," Max said with a smug grin.

_So that's how he's had more dates than me this week_, Alex thought. Still, she had to give credit where credit was due, and reach up to shake his hand. "Nicely played."

"Thanks," Max replied. "I learn from the best."

Touched, Alex said, "Aw, that's sweet." She then paused. "You meant me, right?"

"Yeah. I mean, Justin's good with the advice, but whenever I need to be sneaky or underhanded, you're the one I look to," Max asssured her.

Alex nodded. "As you should." She still couldn't spot Harper anywhere, so she stood up and used some hand magic to make the blanket disappear. "Come on, let's go see where Harper went...to..."

As it turned out, she hadn't been able to see her best friend because Harper had wandered over to a pathway, where she was talking to a carriage driver and petting a horse. Harper also had a good amount of sticks, leaves and rocks in the basket Alex had conjured for her. Unfortunately, the items kept falling out of the basket, causing both her and the driver to bend down to pick them up.

It was evident in the elderly driver's face that he was getting annoyed by this, but Harper was too busy petting the horse to notice.

"Oh, Harper," Alex muttered as she went over, Max at her side. "Harper! There you are! Did you get enough nature stuff yet?"

Harper held up her full basket in response, which caused two more twigs to fall out. "That keeps happening!" she said with a laugh. She grabbed them up, then pointed to the elderly man next to her. "Alex, this is Tony. Isn't the horse so cute?"

"Yeah, adorable," Alex deadpanned. "But you know, I'm sure Tony here has a job to get back to, so..."

"Oh, wait! Tony, can I have some of Peppercorn's horse hairs?" Harper asked before Alex could drag her away.

Understandably confused, and freaked out, Tony asked, "Why on earth would..."

"It looks like the perfect material for the bottom of the dress I'm going to make," Harper explained, as if that made it not strange at all. Before Tony replied, she began to reach for Peppercorn's mane.

"Harper!" Alex exclaimed. She could feel hot embarrassment begin to creep up when she caught sight of Tony's horrified face. "I'm sure Peppercorn is very proud of his thick hair and wouldn't appreciate you wrecking it! Come on, let's leave the man to do his job!"

Disappointed, Harper left Peppercorn's hair alone and began to follow Alex's hasty exit in the opposite direction. "_Okay_. Nice meeting you, Tony!"

"Yeah, sure," Tony grumbled, then went around the side of the cart to get in.

As the trio began to walk along a path, Harper said, "Alex, that was rude! Tony and I were having a nice conversation!"

"Which ended when you tried to pull a fistful of hair out of the horse's mane!" Alex snapped. "Harper, you just don't do that!"

Harper was about to get upset, then realized something. She stopped walking to give Alex an amused glance. "So would you say I..._embarrassed_ you?"

"She's got you, Alex!" Max said as he gave Harper another high five.

Indignant, Alex retorted, "Just for that, I'm not shrinking your 'art supplies.' You'll have to carry that basket around all day now."

"Hey, you're not the only wizard here," Harper reminded her, then held up her basket in front of Max.

He glanced around to make sure no one was looking, then whispered, "So this stuff isn't heavy at all, shrink it down so it's very small."

The basket and its contents shrunk to about the size of a postage stamp, which Harper smugly put in her purse. "Thank you, Max."

"You know, you two have been so chummy today. Good thing too, because I'm sure by the end of the day, Harper's probably going to need a new best friend," Alex said in an insincerely sweet voice. Harper and Max only shook their heads at her dramatics as she stomped further down the path.

* * *

"Quick! Over there!" Harper pointed to where a man and his Golden Retriever dog were entertaining a small crowd. The man threw the tennis ball in an odd trajectory, which made the dog twist and leap in order to catch it. "You should film that and add it to your video!" she suggested.

Max nodded and held up his camera. "Good idea! Girls at school love dog videos!"

Her arms crossed in disapproval, Harper chided, "Is that the only reason you make videos? To get girls?"

"Well, I do like making videos," Max replied. "But I'm a thirteen-year-old boy going through puberty. I'd be stupid not to."

Harper laughed. They stayed where they were until Max got enough footage, then continued walking. Honestly, while Alex had used it in an insult earlier, Harper actually was amazed how much she and Max were getting along. She supposed that dealing with Alex for a long time gave them something in common.

"So…why'd you want to come with us today?" Harper asked out of curiosity.

Max shrugged. "Same as Alex, really. It's not fair Justin gets the day off just because he's a senior. I saw at home that Alex was supposed to be sick, so when I saw her at school I knew she was ditching and wanted to tag along. I really have been meaning to do a documentary anyway and figured this would be good opportunity."

"So you saw us in the hallway, and in that moment decided to ditch," Harper replied, respect in her voice. It'd been impulsive, reckless…she really admired that. She was always too worried about any pesky consequences she would have to deal with later.

But that was what being a Russo was all about, wasn't it? For everything that counted, she was a Russo now too, which meant maybe Alex was right, and she did need to let loose. She wasn't living with parents who laid down the law at the smallest infraction anymore. She could be free.

Speaking of Alex…"Hey, where's Alex?" Harper asked. After she'd off in a huff, Alex had stayed ahead of them. Harper had been letting her best friend cool off, but now that she wanted to go talk, she didn't see the temperamental wizard anywhere.

"What's going on over there?" Max said and pointed.

They'd come across a field filled with a large, low stage that was being set up with large speakers and surrounded by a small work crew. In front of it, people were sitting on blankets, obviously waiting for an event later that day.

"No idea," Harper said. They began to walk toward the part of the crowd, where some people were standing and talking. "Probably a free concert."

"This goes out to Harper and Max, who have the nerve to think that _I_ get embarrassed."

Shocked, Harper and Max froze at the voice that came from the speakers. It was Alex's.

They then broke out of their trance and ran to the front of the crowd, which had already lined barriers in front of the stage.

_Boom, clap, boom de clap de clap_

_Boom boom clap, boom de clap de clap_

_Boom boom clap, boom de clap de clap_

_Boom boom clap, boom de clap de clap_

_Try it with me, here we go!_

It was Hannah Montana's voice, but Alex was lip-synching, and clapping her hands.

Harper could only stare in disbelief, while Max whipped out his camera.

Then again, she shouldn't be so shaken. Alex was never one to shy away from proving someone wrong. And Harper had taught Alex the Hoedown Throwdown when the single came out months ago. Of course, Alex wasn't a fan of the sugary sweet pop star, but she agreed to a lesson from Harper one night when they were bored.

_1, 2, 3!_

_Everybody come on, off your seats_

_I'm gonna tell you about a beat_

_That's gonna make you move your feet_

Alex was moving around the stage like a true pop star, a smile on her face as she danced in place, getting ready to start the moves.

_I'll give the Bar-be-que show_

_And tell you how to move_

_If you're five or eighty-two_

_This is something you can do (woah-woah)_

Harper caught Alex's brief hesitation before the instructions began. However, Alex then threw herself into the dance, performing each move as well as - actually, better than - the night Harper taught her. Actually, Harper had to wonder if Alex had been practicing on her own.

_Pop it, lock it_

_Polka dot it_

_Countrify then hip-hop it_

_Put your hawk in the sky_

_Move side to side_

_Jump to the left_

_Stick it, glide_

Since nothing was really going on, no security rushed up to drag her off the stage, and people stretched out on the field began to get up and join in, for lack of anything better to do. Both to give Alex support, and because she loved this song anyway, Harper was one of the first to start dancing along.

_Zig-zag cross the floor_

_Shuffle in diagonal_

_When the drum hits_

_Hands on your hips_

_One footed 180 twistand then a, _

_zig-zag, step n' slide_

_Lean it left_

_Clap three times_

_Shake it out_

_Head to toe_

_Throw it all together_

_That's how we roll_

By then, the whole field of people was doing the dance. The incident was quite a sight to see, and was attracting other park patrons who had spotted the commotion from further away. By the middle of the second verse, at least a hundred people, maybe more, were in the crowd.

It occurred to Harper that Alex could get in big trouble for hijacking a stage. But as the song progressed, Harper found that she was having too much fun to care.


End file.
